


The Way to a Hantheer's Hart

by ice_wraith



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), The Deerly Chosen, Word Walkers
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons Campaign, Fluff, Gen, Homebrew Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26363335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ice_wraith/pseuds/ice_wraith
Summary: I... wrote a short fic thing because I really like the characters in The Deerly Chosen campaign. >.>
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	The Way to a Hantheer's Hart

The hantheer sat awake, his slender form half-slouched against the night as though the very stars were a burden upon him. He had agreed to keep first watch while the rest of his companions slept opportunistically around the crackling fire behind him. He rolled his neck, and then his shoulders. His antlers and his eyelids both seemed heavier as the night wore on. Nothing seemed amiss. At least, not as far as he could perceive. 

After a time, he turned to put another piece of wood on the fire. It was then that he noticed that one of his party was missing. Tali, the lithe little cleric of the group, had somehow managed to slip away without notice, chainmail armor and all. Brai'sa had heard no sounds of a struggle. Given his own aptitude for sneaking away from his lessons in Fahla'surni, he could usually intuit when one wanted time to themselves. Still, he kept an ear out for her, and after some time had passed, he heard her familiar, cautious footfalls come padding back into camp. He did not turn, or give any indication that he heard her. He finished his watch without incident and woke Phillion for the next vigil. By the time he crawled, exhausted, into his own bedroll, Tali had long since fallen asleep. Peering over at her curiously, he could see that her brow was furrowed, and her slumber seemed marred by a troubled restlessness. Brai'sa frowned; had he not been on watch, he would have missed her absence entirely. 

The next night, he claimed first watch again, this time listening intently for the subtle rasp and clink of chainmail. Sure enough, once the rest of the party had succumbed to their slumbers, he heard the shifting of fabric and the quiet rustling of Tali's armor. Again, he kept his back to her. 

One of his ears twitched involuntarily. He heard a hushed intake of breath as she froze, as though she didn't dare to breathe for a moment. He remained absolutely still, as if lost in deep meditation, and eventually, he heard her movements resume, though there was a fearfulness behind them that he hadn't detected before. The soft rhythm of her footsteps disappeared towards the thicket behind camp. Once the sounds of her presence had faded, Brai'sa turned finally, and, as quietly as he could, stood and carefully followed her into the trees. 

He twisted soundlessly between the boughs of foliage as he went, taking care not to tread upon any twigs or crackling leaves, until he came upon the clearing where Vera'thian had been left to bed down. He saw Tali. Her form was strange and small to him under the faint veil of moonlight. She was standing to her waist amongst the tall grasses, her back towards him. She was facing a very wary looking Vera'thian with outstretched hands, attempting to coax the hind towards her with an offering of a particularly tasty looking apple.

Impassively, the pale hart stared the elven woman down. Brai'sa knew firsthand that the hind did things on her own terms and not a moment sooner, but he also knew that her cleverness far surpassed his own. It was what had initially drawn him to her. He knew he wasn't the brightest--far from it--and the hart, in her own, maternal sort of way, had taken up the mantle of caregiver. It was as as though she saw him as a bumbling fawn who needed assistance sorting out left from right. 

The hart had seen him, of course, from the moment he stopped at the edge of the clearing. Fortunately, he was nestled in the brush almost directly behind Tali, his own antlers blending seamlessly into the scraggly foliage. Tali had not noticed his presence; in her mind, the hart was staring in her direction, not looking past her into the trees. Brai'sa slowly tapped a finger to his lips in a shushing motion, and then, with a silent, pleading look in his eye, very pointedly inclined his head towards Tali. 

Vera'thian understood. 

The white hart focused her electric, turquoise gaze upon the elven woman again. She took one dainty, dignified step towards her, and then another. Brai'sa could just barely see Tali trembling in the darkness; Speaker bless her, she was trying her very best to remain perfectly still despite her nerves, and he felt his heart go out to her, as though he might somehow lend her strength through force of will.

Vera'thian reached Tali in a moment, stopping near enough to stretch her neck out and nudge the apple clutched in the woman's hands. The hart absolutely dwarfed her in stature. To her immense credit, Tali held herself confidently, resolute and steadfast, while the massive cervid ate the fruit from her comparatively tiny palms. 

Brai'sa heard the woman's breathing hitch, and although he could not see her face, he knew she was smiling. Vera'thian turned away to bed down again, her molars crunching contentedly on the snack as she walked back through the sway of the meadow-grasses. Tali stayed in place as though hypnotized, seemingly intent on watching the hart for a few moments more. 

Brai'sa ripped himself away, realizing this was his only opportunity to retreat, and crept quietly back to camp. He returned to his place of vigil, sitting thoughtful and quiet as though he'd not moved a muscle since Tali had left her bedroll. Eventually, the faintest rustle of chainmail told him that she had returned, and he ticked off the moments it would take for her to nestle back into her bedroll. Flipping one ear towards her, he heard her breathing slow and then steady. Only then did he venture a glance at her through the firelight. She slept peacefully, with a smile playing at the corners of her lips. 

He turned away, unable and unwilling to hide the grin that crept across his face. When it was time to change guard, he woke Phillion again, and it took all his composure not to continue beaming like a lunatic lest the heavyclaw question the hantheer's sanity any further. Brai'sa retreated to his bedroll, and, like Tali, drifted into unconsciousness with a peaceful smile lingering upon his features. 

In the forest, the white hart snorted indulgently.


End file.
